Around 20 people of all ages volunteered to help paint over graffiti underneath the Whites Canyon Bridge on Saturday.
Volunteers wielded long paint rollers, dipped in gray paint, to cover up much of the graffiti on the top and bottom of the concrete embankment that runs underneath the bridge. Event organizers said that while the group is smaller than last year’s project in Bouquet Creek, the importance of it was still large.
Tracy Sullivan, community preservation manager for the city of Santa Clarita, said the event is important because it gets the community involved in helping keep the city clean.
“It’s really a testament to how great this community is, and that they really want to help make it the great city that it is,” said Sullivan. “It really shows how involved and how engaged our community is.”
The project is part of the city of Santa Clarita’s five-year plan, known as SC2025. The plan covers multiple projects and goals such as community engagement, city master planning, economic development, and beatification, among many others.
The idea of establishing a graffiti removal day was started by city workers about a year ago, with a proclamation being submitted and approved by the Santa Clarita City Council on May 24 of last year.
While the city has an already existing graffiti removal task force, which has removed 99% of graffiti within 24 hours since 2015, an entire day dedicated to graffiti removal, which invites community members to participate in a large-scale project, such as this one, had never been done before 2022.
Volunteers showed great pride that they were able to have the opportunity to give back to the community.
Raquel Garcia, there with her two daughters, said she wanted her kids to learn an important lesson about community service.
“We want the kids to be more aware of what they can do for the community,” said Garcia. “We are doing it for them, we want them to get more involved and also as a family we want to do something that helps other people.”
